Pittsburgh have gone into the season, as one of the favourites to win the AFC and comfortably overcame the Washington Redskins 38-16.
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While Pittsburgh’s passing attack clicked early, Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins struggled to connect with his receivers in the red zone, frequently throwing low balls throughout the first half.
“The call came from the sideline”.
“It was awesome, I tell you what”, he said. “They gave us a look”.
The Redskins led 6-0 after one quarter, when the Steelers offense that was supposed to be so dynamic was not at all.
Coach Mike Tomlin said the Steelers “didn’t care where Norman was’ on the field because they don’t have control over that, a thought Brown echoed when he said after the game: “Trying to beat the man across from me”.
Gruden acknowledged that there were “two bad decisions”, in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half.
“They took us behind the woodshed today and wore our tail out”, Norman said. Roethlisberger completed 27 of 37 passes for 300 yards and three touchdowns with one interception, while Brown caught eight passes for 126 yards and two scores. Williams had everything working, including a backbreaking 15-yard touchdown run as he split two defenders like a point guard. He also threw two interceptions, and his “prove-it” season is off to a miserable start.
“We have a lot of confidence in ourselves as a unit”, tight end Jesse James said. What are you going to do without Heath Miller?’ My message was, ‘Well, we’ve got (Coates), we’ve got (Rogers), and all the tight ends, and DeAngelo Williams‘.
Reed option: Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins’ opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.
Washington got it as close as 24-16 on Chris Thompson’s fourth-quarter touchdown.
Pittsburgh’s dynamic duo connected again on a 26 yard touchdown pass, a lovely over the shoulder catch. That came with Bell serving the first game of his three-game drug suspension and DeAngelo Williams filling in more than admirably like he did last season.
Roethlisberger threw a quick slant to Sammie Coates, who had lined up outside of Rogers. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson led the team with six receptions for 102 yards. Until the Redskins went to a no-huddle look when the game was out of reach, Cousins was dinking and dunking his way to field goals in a game – in a league – defined by touchdowns. Norman locked down one side of the field and the Steelers – wisely – shifted Brown in the direction of Breeland. They should be excellent in pursuit of ball.
Washington couldn’t get out of its own way tonight, and the Steelers capitalized on that, locking up the win.
The second quarter became a tale of fourth-down success and failure that ended with Pittsburgh ahead 14-6.
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